I’ve been in numerous amateur productions. I could play a supporting character easily.
Back in high school I was basically the go to guy for all things theater. My senior year I built the set, hung the lights, and was Romeo in R&J. Everyone thought I was pretty good, some people even came back and saw the production multiple times, and not parents. (I’ve been told that my shirtless scene was a big hit.)
But it was big fish small pond. I got to college and could not get a big part.
Now, after years of being a glorified carpenter, nope, I couldn’t, and wouldn’t want to act. That involves talking, I haven’t said a damn thing today.
Yes, of course. I’ve done radio, TV, movies, and theatre. Drama and comedy. It ain’t hard.
Dean Martin once said “Acting is easy work. I just stand where they tell me to stand and say what they tell me to say.”
I was having lunch on the patio at a McDonald’s once when a photographer approached me and the girl sitting next to me (a total stranger) and said “I like your look. Do you mind if I take some photos of you two together?”
We wound up on the pages of the Sunday paper. We must have had “It.”
I have a trophy on my desk from my college days for being “Most Improved Actor”. This was fifty years ago,so I’m a little out of practice, Also, my memory isn’t what it used to be, and I’m not nearly as mobile.
I could do a reasonably good performance as a corpse, however.
Can you act? Theatrically, I mean
If you ask my directors, you might get a different answer than you’d get from me.
I have acted in various groups in college and grad school and afterwards. I think I did a pretty good job in several of those productions. At any rate, with all those performances (not to mention being an altar boy, and doing public speaking) I no longer get stage fright.
I have been called on or volunteered to read parts at various conventions, but that’s not in the league the OP suggests.
I was a theater geek in high school and before. I know how to act, including improv, but haven’t done it in many decades.
My informal “qualifications” include having a rather elastic face and a loud voice. From reading aloud to my kid, I’ve learned I’m petty darn good at multiple voices and accents. I can sing. I’m comfortable with public speaking and have never gotten stage fright. For film, I’m more a behind the camera guy.
I don’t think so? Never tried it. But my public speaking is getting so much better.
Every other week when I go do council meetings I pretend like I’m putting on a show. Like The Muppet Show. It works pretty well for me.
Oh, yeah. I “act” every day pretending to be comfortable interacting with other people.
And I’m a good liar, but only about 20% of that is in the delivery.
I honestly don’t know how well I could do it, but I could do it.
I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
I’ve never been a good public speaker, but acting was a blast. Granted, the last time I did it was over 25 years ago…
I’ve been in six plays in my life, twice as the lead. So I’m certainly capable of it. How good? Well, better than any of my fellow students who showed up for auditions, at least.
Then again, I’ve seen some absolutely terrible acting performances make it into Hollywood movies. Getting noticed by a casting director seems to be the more relevant obstacle than actual talent, and the hypothetical says we’ve already got that, so…
Yeah, I got a Tony Award (ok, it was from my drama teacher…) and all I did was convince myself that I was a shy, PTSD veteran returning from WW2…
I know I wouldn’t get stage fright. I’ve been on stage as a (totally rinky-dink) musician for decades.
So yeah, I know I could remember my lines and move where they wanted me to and do some form of emoting. Would I be convincing in the role? Oh, I have no idea. The only acting I’ve ever actually done is playing innocent in front of cops (sometimes successfully).
Cf. Ian McKellen as himself on Extras:
How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I… pretend to be the person I’m portraying.
You’re confused.
Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says ‘I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard,’ and I said ‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard?’ and Peter Jackson said ‘I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show.’
So i said ‘Okay’ and then I said to myself ‘Mmm… How do I do that?’ And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage.
How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand.
If you were to graph my acting, it would look something like this: Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian, action — wizard! “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” Cut! — Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian…
I used to act in my local community theatre, and was pretty good at it too, and genuinely thought I could take that into performing on camera. Then I got a couple of opportunities to do so in student films and I was completely awful at it. I couldn’t understand how I could be so unsuited, but I just couldn’t manage to get it together.
Maybe if I got some more experience under my belt and some formal acting lessons I’d do a decent job, but I was so discouraged I’ve never taken it any further.
I was a theater geek in high school. Being the guy who can be depended on to show up for every rehearsal got me a lot of parts, including a couple of leads. I also did a little in college and a stab at community theater.
A lot of on stage experience didn’t make me a good actor, though. My stage presence varied between “wooden” and “stiff.”
I could do a bit. As an instructor/lecturer at various times in my career, I was comfortable in front of an audience. One class droning on about Transportation of Hazardous Materials in an 80 hour certification required improvised stories, motion about the classroom, pointed jokes to keep up interest. I’ve also done stand-up comedy gigs regarding Moses and Jesus.
I’d need the part to be that of an aging geezer now.
In school plays I got to play clergymen, I don’t know why. I certainly couldn’t project my voice enough these days, even if I could convincingly inhabit a character. And I doubt if I could do the sort of TV acting where a whole lot of thoughts can be conveyed by a subtle shift in the eyes.
On the other hand (though maybe this is off the point), I do enjoy doing volunteer readings for Librivox - all that’s needed is to plug a reasonable microphone and headphone into your computer and get to know the basics of the Audacity software. They’re mainly interested in an accurate record of the words rather than acting as such, but of course it’s much better for the listener if you do put some life and meaning into it. Not that I venture too far from my native accent and “BBC poetry” voice.
I took a class in Executive Presence.
Despite all the protestations to the contrary, it was entirely an acting class. The instructors were a professional stage actor and an acting coach. was terrible. I only passed because no matter how poor your evaluations were you “completed” the assignments.
I have seen company executives do a roadshow (I was one of the support staff vetting numbers they were quoting and verifying that any information provided would not constitute insider information if traded upon) where they went to a dozen regional offices and gave the identical talk, and each time it looked and sounded absolutely fresh, sincere and unrehearsed, even though every word was scripted, and vetted by legal, finance and investor relations.